148 HUNTER ASSOCIATION
With cautious steps, he made his way to the end of the corridor. Before him lay several round carpets arranged meticulously in front of a grand jade coffin. The implication was clear.
"These must be for kneeling," he reasoned, quickly dropping to his knees before the illustrious jade sarcophagus.
Following the instructions he recalled, he performed the ritual: kneeling and bowing nine times in precise succession.
To his astonishment, the chamber erupted in a brilliant display of magical light. The jade coffin began to glow, radiating an icy brilliance that filled the space with an ethereal aura.
"Alright," Leo murmured, shielding his eyes from the intense glow, "now how the hell do I get out of here?"
The protocol had brought him this far, but it offered no further guidance. Rising cautiously, he circled the coffin, studying it from every angle. Apart from its breathtaking craftsmanship, there appeared to be nothing extraordinary about it.
Frustrated, he summoned his control panel to analyze the magical properties emanating from the jade coffin. The holographic display revealed a labyrinth of intricate magical codes, their complexity beyond anything Leo had encountered before.
"This has to mean something," he muttered, his eyes narrowing as he tried to decipher the swirling patterns of energy.
Yet, despite his best efforts, the interactions between the codes remained inscrutable. He stayed there a long time studying the jade tomb.
-----
Aftar a long time in the tomb, a sudden shift in the atmosphere made him freeze. A presence was approaching from above, its oppressive aura filling the chamber with a palpable menace.
"Damn it. Now what?" Leo hissed, glancing around for a place to hide.
The tomb offered no cover, no exits he could reach before the entity arrived. Panic gripped him as the realization set in: if the being found him here, he might not survive the encounter.
"Whatever that is coming here, it's not be kind to me", was his conclusion he murmured.
Desperation sharpened his senses, and then he saw it—a glowing handprint etched into the surface of the jade coffin hinting to him what to do. With no other options, Leo pressed his palm against it. To his astonishment, the coffin's lid slid open with a soft, mechanical hum.
With his heart pounding, he peered inside.
"The coffin is fucking empty?" he asked.
Without hesitation, he climbed in and the lid closed over him with a resonant thud. Darkness enveloped him once more.
"Damn it. Am I safe now?" Leo whispered, his voice barely audible in the confined space. The air inside was cool and still, offering no answers to his questions.
"Who is the person coming down?" he wondered, dread gnawing at him. He had no idea who or what was descending into the tomb, but for now, all he could do was wait.
-----
"Milord Bael, why do you want to come down here? You haven't been in this place for a very long time," Argun asked the Skeleton King, his tone a mix of curiosity and apprehension.
"Do you know who lies in this coffin and why I brought it here, along with this entire dungeon from the eastern city of Séance?" Bael, the Skeleton King, inquired, his voice echoing ominously in the cavernous chamber.
"I know you went to great lengths to relocate this magical dungeon to the ruins of Sodom, but as for the exact reason, I'm not entirely sure. The person inside the tomb is the Great Emperor of the East, isn't it?" Argun replied cautiously.
"Yes, his true name was Yin-Zhing—the Great Emperor of the East. He was the one who unified the eastern continent into what was known as the Kun Empire," Bael explained, his bony fingers brushing lightly against the jade coffin.
"But the Kun Empire fractured into countless city-states shortly after its formation," Argun noted.
"Indeed. That disintegration occurred because Yin-Zhing died," Bael said, his voice carrying an undertone of reverence.
"Did you kill Yin-Zhing and steal his dungeon? Is this labyrinth tomb truly his?" Argun asked, a sharp edge in his voice.
"No," Bael replied. "When I discovered this dungeon, he was already dead. I uprooted the entire structure and brought it here."
"Why go to such extraordinary lengths for a tomb?" Argun questioned, skepticism plain on his skeletal visage.
"This tomb is far from useless," Bael retorted, his voice firm.
"It preserves the divine body of Yin-Zhing within the jade coffin. You see, I lost my divine body to Destiny's Retribution, reduced to nothing but bones now. Yin-Zhing's body is the perfect vessel for my resurrection."
"But why now? You've had this tomb for so many years. What has changed?" Argun asked, his unease growing.
"The barrier of Heaven over Sodom has weakened," Bael said, a grim satisfaction evident in his tone. "The time has come for me to escape this prison—the ruins of Sodom—and reclaim my place on the continent. This shall be the time for my resurrection."
Though Leo couldn't see what was happening outside the jade coffin, he heard every word of their conversation with crystal clarity.
"Damn it," Leo cursed silently. "This demon wants to use my body now. I never should have climbed into this fucking coffin."
Suddenly, the coffin began to move, lifted by some unseen force. Panic gripped Leo as the realization dawned: Bael intended to remove the coffin from the dungeon tomb.
"Shit," Leo muttered under his breath, his mind racing for a way out of his predicament.
-----
"Where did all the demons go?" Ma-Shi asked, his tone sharp and inquisitive.
"From our scouts, the main army of demons moved south to engage the expeditioners from Sodom City," Egger replied.
Both Ma-Shi and Egger were seasoned mages and renowned demon hunters.
Ma-Shi hailed from the Hunter Association of Amoy in the east, while Egger represented the Hunter Association of Luxor in the West. This was a joint operation between two Hunter Associations.
As top demon hunters, they brought an elite team into the ruins of Sodom to confront the growing demon threat.